I like the sound of that! When i read about mistakes i love to also read how to avoid them or do the positive version instead– like the first two lists you have here and how they relate. Since the third list doesn’t have the positive version, i would love to read more on how to manage a team and lead it successfully without resorting to behaviors that derail a leader’s progress.

Dear Dan,
“Fear of making mistakes makes leaders to derail, delays and stagnates” is truly a powerful statement. I appreciate your point that unsuccessful leaders create environment that support leaders view. I would add some more concepts here- Unsuccessful leaders have self perspective, they do not to see the things from others perspective. In fact they are not interested in. Their concern is their own progress. And that is why they like those who can support their views. Those who do not support their views or question them, are treated differently and subsequently suffer in the organizations. Such people who questions are in disadvantageous position and lag into promotional and reward practices.
I think leader should develop the power of acceptance. This makes ordinary people in great leaders. And this comes only when we accept reality, truths and believe in overall progress.
I think leaders inflate drama to show their capability and concerns. And the best way to deflate unsuccessful leaders drama is to ask for deadlines and deliverable. Superiors should ask unsuccessful leaders to come out with result and not excuses.

I’ve met some great leaders and some horrible leaders… I think we all have.

Some thing that all great leaders I’ve met have in common are: they are open-minded, they listen to other people’s opinion, they are great learners and learn new things all the time.

The bad leaders I’ve met, or shall I call them people who tried to lead but failed? They have all been having a HUGE egos, not open to new ideas, and they want to push down the people they have around them.

Thanks for your reply. It’s not easy to be a good leader when you are under lot of pressure. You have to know yourself well and know ho you react to stress – that can prevent you from passing on your stress to others.

If I only I had a place to document all of my mistakes and what I learned from them :) (It’s kind of the premise of my blog haha)

I’ve found that I am an auditory learner (though I do love to read). But I am also an experiential learner. I’m glad that I made so many mistakes from the age of 18-30 because none of them were fatal. I could still move in with mom (did for a few months when I was 25) if needed. I could still start a new business. I could live off of less than $1000 a month in a one-bedroom apartment. I could burn a few bridges even because I had time to repair them or make new ones.

So…I’m thankful that I screwed up so much at a young age and learned from my mistakes. That is the time to make as many as possible!

Thanks for sharing your story Matt. It encourages me and I think will encourage others.

Behind your ideas is the thought that there is something more important than short-term success. Some things are worth “suffering” to achieve. I get a sense of the value of purpose and meaningful mission.

I was assuming that you would be asking what other top mistakes do leaders make and that was one of them…assuming and not assuming.

Assuming that those you work with can read your mind, assuming they know your intent, assuming they automatically got going on a project because you thought about it. And not assuming that those you work with have positive intent (most do). And not assuming that people do make mistakes often caused by your processes.

But to your questions, what lessons have I learned from my mistakes–> that seems to be the truest mirror moment where I reflect who I am at my core.

And to the drama – power-focused faux leaders might stir the pot and sit back assuming that less of that mirror’s reflection is on them. It isn’t. And not dealing with the dramatic elephant in the room is just as heinous.

It might be important to not confuse stirring the drama pot with stimulating a healthy conflict–aka Pat Lencioni’s 5 dysfunctions. If the focus is on people then its drama, if the focus is process and clarifying a vision path, then it may be healthy.

I assumed you were going to list off a few top tier mistakes leaders make. You dissapointed me. Assumptions can produce disappointment. And then, I can blame those who disappoint me because they didn’t meet my assumed expectations… then I’m off the hook… I have someone to blame! I LOVE IT! Thank you, I feel so much better now. (I think I’m still a little weird from yesterdays conversation so if this doesn’t make sense, I’ll blame it on that)

Great article that touches on the basics of unsuccessful leaders. I recently did some research and wrote on article on the same topic. One aspect I discovered dives deeper into “trying to hide mistakes”, specifically how unsuccessful and toxic leaders try to extort a greater amount of autonomy from upper level management. As a way to hide mistakes but also to avoid having things checked upon and corrected, essentially self preservation. The best way to create a better business is to create better leaders. http://blog.datis.com/?p=6782